A figure of some historical significance (for me, this was Walt Whitman) shows up on your doorstep. Can you:

• accurately summarize the time since their death? Do you know history that well?
• explain 9/11 to them?
• explain why Teddy Roosevelt deserved to get his image on Mt. Rushmore, or why he really didn’t?
• find one television show (whose goal is primarily entertainment, not education) that is good enough and broad enough in it’s appeal to justify even half the amount of time that people spend watching Television in general (to the time-traveller, not you)?

These were the questions I posed myself as I drove across town Saturday.

I don’t think Walt would’ve been too impressed with me.